Showers will also stick around into the weekend, but there
will be periods of sun and clouds, with temperatures in the mid- to upper 60s.

Monday night's full lunar eclipse

Weather permitting, Monday night into Tuesday morning will be the first of two full lunar eclipses visible from the Pacific Northwest in 2014.

According to starman Jim Todd of OMSI, beginning at 9:55 p.m. Monday night “The full moon will slide through the dark shadow of the Earth and for 73 minutes the only light hitting the moon will be a reddish glow from all of Earth’s sunrises and sunsets resulting in a total lunar eclipse.”

Todd said that weather permitting, OMSI will host an eclipse viewing party beginning at 9:30 p.m. at Milo McIver State Park in Estacada. The Rose City Astronomers and Oregon State Parks will have telescopes set up and Todd will give informal talks on both the eclipse and the night sky.

There is no need to shield your eyes from a lunar eclipse, which occurs when the earth comes between the sun and the moon.

On the scheduled day of the eclipse, call the OMSI Star Parties Hotline at 503-797-4000, then press #3 and then #5 for updates. You can also check the OMSI Star Parties website for possible weather-related cancellations.

Also, according to space.com, Mars comes within 57.4 million miles of Earth, its closest approach since January 2008.

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A week later, the Lyrid meteor shower is expected to peak in the early morning hours of April 22. Ten to 15 meteors an hour are expected to streak across the night sky. Weather permitting.